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The Art of Letting Go (Album)
Announcement The unofficial announcement that Callie Hunter began work for her third major label release came from a video upload on July 9th, 2014. The video contained a montage of video with Hunter in a studio with producer David Braun. Before the video, Hunter had worked in May on new material she revealed in Americana Magazine as 'more alternative sounding' however it was unclear if this is the direction of the album saying 'I don't know exactly if the label wants to use it for anything.' The song featured in the video was later found to be the early recording of "Tell Me Another Lie" her duet with Jeff Jones. Release "The Art of Letting Go" was released on November 22nd, 2014 through Broadway Music Group in the United States and on November 24th, 2014 worldwide. Composition After an interview with Americana Magazine, speculation on the album's composition was if it would contain indie/alternative influences. In a video released by Hunter and Broadway Music Group, the singer was filmed working with ballad, R&B producer David Braun. included in the video was an acapella of unreleased material as well as sample of the music from the session, which containted a 'throwback R&B' sound with upbeat pop elements. Many critics were confused on the album's direction, one critic for SimVouge stated "After releasing a video clip of her in the studio, she released a snippet of music that was far from 'alternative' and more bubblegum R&B than anything." A statement regarding the album's production was made by Broadway Music Group on August 1st stating that the material created in May was shelved due to projection concerns. The album also was rumored to have an array of high profile guest. On August 28th, 2014, Callie tweeted that she finished a "soft, gentle" song that she will name the album after. The song was revealed as "Always Mine" but was not chosen as the title track. In August, the role of the album's lead producer changed from Lukas Allard (Hunter's frequent collaborator whom was the executive produced her Daydreaming and Happy Birthday albums) to Jeff "JJ" Jones. Jones is a musical producer who was previously a rapper. Over his seven year artist career he earned 3 top ten songs and since producing has earned himself four no. 1 song and 7 Simmy's Awards. In late September, an anonymous source revealed the titles of 4 previously unknown songs from the album tracklist to SimsBuzzT3. The titles ("Die" "Elastic Heart" "Mine" and "Love Me Baby") were unconfirmed and it was later revealed that songs titled "Always Mine" and "Love Me Baby" were in fact included on the album. Callie Hunter later said of the album, she disliked how her label didn't want her to change her sound towards a rock, pop sound and instead pushed her into R&B and Hip-Hop. Chart Performance & Sales After its November release, "The Art of Letting Go" had earned only 53,000 in sales, debuting at #5 on the US album chart. This number was far lower than the expected range of 115,000 - 150,000. It's Callie Hunter's second lowest opening sales week after This Is What Love Is Like (2016). As of January 2017, The Art of Letting Go remain's Hunter's lowest selling album with 287,000 in total world wide sales. Tracklist and Songs The official song list was tweeted by Callie on November 20th, a date many critics said was extremely late for a high profile album release. The standard edition of the album contains a total of 14 songs and the deluxe edition contains 18 song (three new songs and a remix). The album has a R&B feel overall and slowly changes to Hip Hop then finally to Adult Contemporary. Callie Hunter said that she wanted a very eclectic album that changed genres so people wouldn't get bored and that there was something for everyone. One critic for Sims Billboard (whom gave the album a rating 63/100) stated that the genre changing was confusing at times and bit unnecessary, that some of the songs included on the album were not anything that a conventional pop singer should try doing. Fans quickly criticized the remark as many felt that it was a practical way to show artistic evolution. # #Beautiful (Ft. Joel) # Don't Forget About Us # Forever Fantasy # Always Mine # Love Me Baby # Vulnerability # Thirsty # Classy Lady # Did I Do That? (Ft. Matthew) # Unstoppable Us (Ft. Gattan Sandars) # Tell Me Another Lie (with Jeff Jones) # Just a Broken Promise (Ft. Miguel Santos) # Can't Take That Away (Ft. Smooth Criminals & the Bridgeport Theater Choir) # The Art of Letting Go # My All (DELUXE EDITION) # I Stay In Love (DELUXE EDITION) # Brooklyn Beauty (DELUXE EDITION) # Forever Fantasy (Remix) (DELUXE EDITION) Download standard edition: http://t.co/3ncQCrx3pR Download Deluxe Edition: http://t.co/xorgJskPTx Singles "Only One" - The first single released for the album, "Only One" was released September 13th, 2014 via twitter and facebook. It earned instant acclaim for its R&B beats and quickly sold and rose to the no. 1 MUZE buying position in 2 hours. "Only One" is also being kept off the album's official tracklist for not fitting the overall composition. "Thirsty" - The second lead single for Callie Hunter's upcoming album was announced to be released on October 11th, 2014 along with its title, artwork, and any collaborators on the track. It will be her first internationally promoted single and the promo strategy has gain wide-spread attention. The song was a hip-hop sounding track with a remix that featured Theo Alexander "Tell Me Another Lie" - The third single from Callie Hunter's upcoming album, the song is a joint single between Hunter and Jeff Jones. The song was planned to be released to contemporary radio while "Thirsty" was given heavy rotation in the Rhythmic radio category. "#Beautiful" - The fourth single from the album released November 8th. It is a duet with R&B singer Jason. The song debuted at #6 on the Top 100, fell to #9, then fell again to #14 having very little impact despite its highly acclaimed video. "Classy Lady" - A remix of the album song Classy Lady was serviced to crossover and EDM radio December 6th, 2014. "My All" - The sixth total single released during the promotional cycle of the album was the Latin-R&B ballad "My All" whihc topped the Sims Billboard Top 100 for three weeks becoming Callie Hunter's fifth #1 single. Awards The Art of Letting Go was nominated for Best Pop Vocal Album at the 2015 Simmy Awards.